New Pawn Shops Stir Fears

COMMUNITY NEWS

Lakes Residents Complain Crime May Increase

LAUDERDALE LAKES - — Eastgate residents, afraid that two new pawn shops will increase burglaries, are trying to rally support to limit the number of pawn shops in the city.

"We're very upset about this," said Gwen Hankerson, who lives in Eastgate, a middle-class neighborhood of 850 homes southeast of the pawn shops on State Road 7.

"We're going to be the pawn shop city. We're tired of the City Council allowing our neighborhood to be surrounded with junk. Our home values could be reduced. We don't want these pawn shops or the crime that they bring."

Residents started complaining shortly after they noticed the newly opened Value Pawn and Jewelry in the Lauderdale Marketplace at State Road 7.

Days later, workers started on a soon-to-be-opened Cash America Pawn at the corner of Northwest 29th Street and State Road 7, and a Cash for Pawn has been open for years just a few doors down from Cash America.

Pawn shop owners say residents are wrong and that the days of fencing stolen goods or giving out quick, high-interest loans are gone for the majority of these types of businesses.

"People don't understand how pawn shops work," said Bill Martinez, a manager at a Cash America Pawn Shop at 1010 W. Sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. Martinez will be moved to the Lauderdale Lakes location.

"On every single item we get detailed information from the seller," he said. "We log serial numbers, have them fill out and sign a long information sheet. To me, that would seem to be a deterrent for people who want to sell stolen merchandise.

"It's a hell of a lot easier to sell stuff like that on the streets than it is to sell it at a pawn shop. Many times we can even help the police catch people doing illegal stuff like that."

Broward Sheriff's Office Lauderdale Lakes district deputies say Martinez is right. "They are legitimate businesses," said Sheriff's Office Detective Mike Slusher. "We monitor their slips, make sure they check identification, and we have a real good rapport with them. People aren't likely to pass stolen merchandise if they know they have to present I.D. and they can be traced."

City officials say they agree the pawn shops may be too close together, but that their hands are tied because the city has no restrictions on the location or the number of pawn shops that can be operated.

"Unless there is an ordinance, we can't tell pawn shops not to come in," building official Lou Avard said. "The council can pass a law, but someone could always come in and say it's unconstitutional. Then it's up to the courts. If I lived next to one, I wouldn't like it, but we can't stop them."

City Council members say having three pawn shops so close to each other is not good for the city's image. "I think it's a good idea to curtail the number or restrict the location of pawn shops," said council member Julius Schneider, who heads the Building Committee. "We know residents complain that pawn shops bring in the wrong element."

At least one of his colleagues agrees.

"People think they bring in the criminal element and encourage crime," said council member Abe Hassing. "[Criminals) have another outlet to sell their stolen goods. We have enough pawn shops here already. We need to pass something to limit them."